Monthly Archives: February 2009

I’m a new kindy mum. (For those of you who are not in Australia, that means my first child has just started kindergarten, the first year of “big school”.)

We had a cake stall at school today. A fundraiser. It was for a worthy cause, so I guess I can’t complain too much or I’ll be labeled as a whinging, whining, lazy s0-and-so, too lazy to mix up a bit of flour, butter, egg and sugar to help out her fellow man, woman and child who has lost absolutely everything in a huge fire ball that swept across their state through no fault of their own.

Anyway, a note came home saying that all parents were to bake (or buy) cakes, slices or biscuits to sell at school today, for one dollar per piece. Now, I’ve not really got a head for numbers, but it did occur to me that if every family baked (or bought) said items there would certainly be waaaay more cake/cookie/crumble than kids to buy it. Turns out I was right.

Come pick-up time at the end of the school day and who should I hear over the PA? The principal. Urging parents to come and buy some flour, butter, egg and sugar that some other parent had mixed together for the fundraiser. Of course, my child heard the principal’s plea, too. So off we went to make a purchase (when all I really wanted to do was head home to mix together some carrot, zucchini and rice for the baby’s dinner). So, that’s one dollar from my child at lunch time, and five dollars from me after school.

In effect each of us put in time and effort mixing together flour, butter, egg and sugar to swap for someone else’s flour, butter, egg and sugar. And we paid six dollars for the pleasure! (More if you actually bought flour, butter, egg and sugar already mixed by someone at a bakery.) Surely a gold coin donation would be simpler!

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I really don’t want to be labeled as an unsympathetic whinger, so here’s another way to help out: I will follow in the footsteps of photographer Kris Leigh and donate all sitting fees for portrait sessions booked in February, March and April 2009. If you want to help out, all you have to do is make a $100 donation to the Australian Red Cross (instead of paying my $100 sitting fee) through their secure online donations page and then email me the electronic receipt. I’ll contact you to book in our session. Can’t wait to hear from you!

This is the blankie (lovey) I made for my baby boy. I knew it was an ambitious undertaking when I started it (well before he was born)… and I almost got it finished. But then he arrived and I had even less time to knit than before.

For a while I couldn’t face such a large undertaking. You know what it’s like when you’re a mother of small children. Sometimes you just need something that you can actually get finished. That big tick on your ‘to do’ list can be such an important thing when you spend your day dealing with constant interruptions. I needed small projects that could be finished in a day or two (hence my ‘hat’ phase).

Well, here it is, finished at last! And my baby is nearly two! I think it’s been worth the wait, though, to get it done just right. I’m pretty happy with it. I hope he is too!

I am currently looking for newborn models, and their mothers or fathers (or both!) to shoot, digitally speaking of course!. Here’s the deal:

You will get a free portrait session for your new baby, and a free concertina brag book (purse size) of eight of your favourite images from the session. Yay for you! (You may purchase other prints at my current pricing.)

Here’s what I’m looking for:

babies no more than 10 days old (or no more than 10 days home from hospital for prems)

families able to meet me in a location of my choosing (north side of Sydney)

you must be prepared to sign a model release. (The images will more than likely be published.)

So, if you are pregnant (or anyone you know is) and you meet the above criteria, please contact me. (See my contact page for details.) These sessions will be geared around getting the particular images I would like for my portfolio. We can shoot other images if time permits.

Before I had children, and had plenty of time for hawking my wares, some of my images were selling as greeting cards in boutique paper, card and gift stores around Sydney. Not many places, mind you, but they were selling. Then along came baby number one, and I just didn’t have the time to devote to pushing my work.

Well, now you can win a pack of five cards (my selection), just by leaving a comment here! Come on….. I know you’re out there….. stalking…..but not commenting….

The cards come complete with envelopes and are cello-wrapped to keep the photos in mint condition. Simply be one of the first three people to leave me a comment, and I’ll send you the cards through the post. (Let me know how to contact you so I can ask for your postal address.)

Here are a few images from my range of greeting cards. Again, I am scanning these, as most of them were shot on slide film before I switched to digital. Hope you like them!